I remember during my tenure with Koj est (way back in 2004-2009), I was handling a cosmetics brand Mikyajy and one of the most successful campaigns that we executed was creating our own marketing medium. Yes, it was our first initiative toward creating our “Owned Media”.
Yes, you have guessed it right… it was a Seasonal Product Catalogue.
It was designed in the form of a magazine, showcasing the products, step by step guide on how to get the seasonal look, and educational content pertaining to makeup.
The catalog was instrumental in driving footfalls to our stores as we executed the door drop campaign in the residential areas within the proximity of our stores across UAE and KSA.
The response was amazing as customers walked into the stores with the catalog copies asking for a particular shade.
Nostalgia is the best Emotive trigger
Catalogs create anticipation and expectation for customers.
They showcase brands and reflect their personalities and enhance engagement and aspirations.
Why Catalogs are back?
Digital versions took the place of the typical catalogs wherein the brands took their catalogs digitally and hence we saw fewer catalogs from the brands.
I recall a statement from Jeff Bezzos’s book, “Everything Store”, in order to stay agile and relevant, focus on things that are not going to change in the near future.
Things like:
People still want to connect with others.
They need to engage, have experiences, explore, and learn.
They want to be entertained.
They need to establish their position and identity within society.
Catalogs are predictable.
Catalogs are measurable.
Using sophisticated metrics, when a catalog drops into a home retailers/brands know exactly when to expect sales.
In best practices, retailers/brands have a 10-day strong selling window with a predictable bell curve model that allows them to time product deliveries.
Retailers can design the catalog based on the product which they would like to push more in the store.
High-margin products get more space in the catalog in the form of editorials etc.
Stores could stock those products accordingly & the selling window also enables them to gear up customer service accordingly.
To Learn more about growth hacks for supermarkets, grocery retailers, click here.
The touch points brands need to embrace.
It is the best form of “Owned media marketing” just like your social media pages and channels. It is also a tool for “Unified commerce”.
Brands like Warby Parker who is a true multi/omnichannel marketer, started as a digital native offering five eyeglass frames delivered by direct mail to shoppers.
Their only store was the showroom in their corporate office.
Their website evolved with the technology allowing 3D and augmented reality virtual try-ons.
Brick-and-mortar expansion followed as did their catalog business.
Even Amazon is leveraging a catalog to promote seasonal retail during the holidays.
Brands like The Body Shop and Benefit Cosmetics relied on catalogs as a direct marketing tool in the past.
If you are a Brand Owner operating in the beauty/fragrance genre & want to grow his/her business & need a retail expert to help you realize your vision then feel free to write to me at riteshmohan@yahoo.com or call +971502476483
Branded content is the new age communication tool for marketers and advertisers.
Print era vs Branded content
It was an era wherein the ideas were stronger than visibility, as there were few avenues for the brands to showcase their products or services.
“Words” were the only way to influence customers hence the era was of Print ads. In the 1980’s with the advent of televisions entering the household, visual communication using telefilms effectively, as it cut across the geographies and cultures.
Fast forward to 2020, an era of YouTube, OTT etc….Here comes advertising in its new avatar…. Branded content advertising.
Today everyone is pressed with time… One gets exposed to 100GB of ads during the day. Gone are the days wherein one simple print ad could create million-dollar sales revenues for the brands.
I still remember a classic Print ad in Indian advertising of the Prestige cooker… Here it is ….
Do you recall the famous Amul ads, In India market, Amul occupies 81% of the entire butter market, truly encapsulated by its tagline “Taste of India”.
Learn more about the most memorable ads of Indian brands, click here.
What is a Branded Content definition?
As per Wikipedia, Branded content (also known as branded entertainment) is the practice of marketing via the creation of content that is funded or outright produced by an advertiser.
In contrast to content marketing (in which content is presented first and foremost as a marketing ploy for a brand) and product placement (where advertisers pay to have references to their brands incorporated into outside creative works, such as films and television series), branded content is designed to build awareness for a brand by associating it with content that shares its values.
The content does not necessarily need to be a promotion for the brand, although it may still include product placement.
The main point to be kept in mind here is “Values”. In branded content, we talk about brand values rather than their features or functionalities.
Learn how advertising influences consumer’s behavior, click here.
Is Branded content the same as content marketing?
The answer is Yes.
Content marketing is a form of marketing focused on creating, publishing, and distributing content for a targeted audience online.[1] It is often used by businesses in order to:
Attract attention and generate leads
Expand their customer base
Generate or increase online sales
Increase brand awareness or credibility
Engage an online community of users
In this situation, brands need to look for new ways to connect with their audience, impact them in creative ways and convey the values they represent. Branded content is a great solution to all these needs. Branded content is an effective response to an increasingly saturated market.
What has given birth to a new genre of advertising?
Branded content is a new way to appeal to customers EMOTIONALLY. And YouTube is fueling this growth.
YouTube user statistics:
The platform has over 1.9bn logged-in monthly users.
6 out of 10 people prefer online video platforms to live TV.
In an average month, 8 out of 10 18-49 year-olds watch YouTube, while 90% of America 18-24-year-olds use it
You can navigate YouTube in a total of 80 different languages (covering 95% of the Internet population)
Branded content has a high probability of going viral and gathers millions of views which is a limitation on conventional mediums like TVCs (Television commercials).
Watch a branded content by Ahmed foods (a brand from Pakistan)
Today, more brands prefer branded content since its storytelling format appeals to consumer’s emotions which results in generating positive brand affinity and also awareness.
Moreover, the cost feasibility of gathering a million views on YouTube makes it more viable for the brands to get ROI on their ad spends.
Learn about the business model of McDonald’s, click here.
Branded content vs typical advertising
While typical marketing campaigns are all about choosing a USP and then finding a way to convey that selling point to your customer; Branded content takes a new approach.
Rather than focusing on the product’s story, the content focuses on the consumer, their needs, and how the product can solve their problems.
This strategy allows companies to connect with their audience on a deeper level.
Branded content is more of a customer-focused type of content marketing.
It provides value to the customer, like traditional content marketing, but the focus is on making an emotional connection, not selling something.
Branded content also pulls attention to the unique values and ideals of the company, to create an affinity with readers and viewers.
Branded content example: Pillsbury’s
Few tips for the content marketers or copywriters:
Branded content needs to generate conversation around the brand. More than looking for a direct sale or conversion, these contents try to impact the audience and spark conversation around the brand.
Therefore, the key metrics to measure the success of branded content of this type tend to focus on the number of mentions.
Create content that your customers want to consume.
Branded content example – Watch the video by coke studio which got 32 million views.
Coke uses this property of coke studio in its key markets to promote music which can cut across geographical borders and cultures.
Appeals to emotions. The use of emotions to convince goes back to the times of Aristotle, and today is still an effective resource. Branded content does not seek to use rational arguments about why a brand is better than the competition, but instead seeks to connect with the audience on a more intimate level.
Use storytellingmethods.
Watch below film by Google in India to honor unsung heroes;
Challenges ahead for Brands.
To break the clutter of advertising messages on YouTube and to ensure their content strikes conversation amongst the customers.
Lack of Idea generation amongst the creative fraternity to influence customers through emotions. Few brands have mastered the art like Fevicol, Amul, and McDonalds, etc.
To end my article, I would like to ask my advertising and marketing fraternity as to what they feel would be the future of advertising communication in the coming years.
You can express your views by commenting below.
If any of my retail fraternity members want to work out a branded content strategy for your brand or retail stores then feel free to write to me on riteshmohan@yahoo.com. I would be more than glad to support my readers with my cutting edge strategic insights and inputs.
About the author:
Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 20 years in the Retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. He has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in the Middle East region. Ritesh specializes in Retail management, Product development, and Brand Management, Retail Operations, Sales Management and Franchising & Business Management. He believes in empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.
As we hear more about retail apocalypse or meltdown, we tend to think as to why so many retail stores and chains are closing down.
The answer to above question lies within the retail brand stores; their inability to reinvent, forgetting the basics of retail, high cost of collateral loans or borrowing or project financing & failing to adopt technological advancements.
Many retail companies think and operate like financial markets and not like retailers. Hence the result that most of the big retailers are either queuing up for closures or bankruptcies.
So how do retail stores increase their sales? The answer is by using technological -Proximity Marketing.
What is Proximity Marketing? And how it could help reverse retail apocalypse?
Proximity Marketing is a term used to describe location technologies for attracting customers by direct communication on their smart-phones or Bluetooth or GPS enabled devices.
Retail store owners are using beacon technology to meet consumer demands and create an outstanding buyer in-store experience.
To back this up, a recent survey revealed that retail store proximity marketing practices have a strong influence on shoppers buying decision.
For instance, Swirl Networks Inc. shows that beacon-based marketing tactics can boost retail sales to over 70%, but when combined with loyalty programs, retail owners are able to better understand customer behavior.
By using Bluetooth Beacon technology, a beacon is a small transmitter device that uses Bluetooth low-energy (BLE) wireless technology to identify shoppers location in and around stores and to transmit a notification to their smart mobile devices.
On this account, beacon technology will convey messages to your mobile phone and other mobile devices near you that have the application to make a more precise location-based searching.
But first, you must have your store mobile app that will connect beacons for it to work for you.
Why use Proximity marketing using Beacons in the store?
The proximity marketing–beacon technology is a must-use tool for every retailer because it enables you to attract local shoppers who are around your store, and helps them make more purchases by transmitting relevant content to their mobile devices.
The proximity marketing tool can transmit:
Promotional messages
Explain critical product features
Upsell using styling features
Free offers
Provide useful content in regard to specific search or criteria.
It is called “proximity marketing” because shoppers receive alerts when they are at the proximity of your store.
Beacon technology allows mobile apps to receive signals from beacons in the physical world. They deliver hyper-contextualized content to users based on their location.
Benefits of Proximity marketing using Beacons
Retail 3.0 is all about the experience, its all about engagement with the customers and Proximity marketings delivers 100 percent on it.
Offers power of personalization in communicating with the customers.
Tracking shoppers buying habits and purchase history.
Targeted delivery of your advertising content at the right time to the right audience.
Creating seamless in-store navigation.
Easy checkouts without standing the queues
The flexibility of tying up with loyalty programs
By providing virtual shopping assistants through push notifications, you can add chatbots as well.
Case Study: Macy’s departmental store.
Macy’s rolled out retail’s largest beacon installation in their stores.
As soon as shoppers entered Macy’s, they were notified to open their Macy’s apps in order to receive notifications, promotions, deals, and discounts.
Watch out this video to understand how Proximity marketing could be used using Bluetooth beacons.
If you are a retailer stuck with stagnant sales and want to relook at your retail strategy, please feel free to write to me at riteshmohan@yahoo.com.
In fact, I strongly believe in collaborative learning and growth for everyone.
About the author:
Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 20 years in the Retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. Ritesh has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in the Middle East region. He specializes in Retail management, Product development, and Brand Management, Retail Operations, Sales Management, and Franchising & Business Management. He strongly believes in empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.
In recent research on digital marketing trends on Luxury brands by McKinsey reported that 80% of luxury sales are now influenced by online.
This is a staggering figure, and clearly highlights the important role digital marketing now plays within a luxury purchase.
One point of caution here is that the digital revenue at the majority of luxury brands still contributes little in comparison to other sales channels.
2018 may have been a challenging year for luxury and overall retail sector, but there were a few luxury brands who certainly knew how to invest their marketing dollars despite the challenges.
My article is my attempt to highlight key digital campaigns and activation’s done by Luxury brands.
So what makes a digital campaign or activation successful?
Experiential marketing that taps into the desires of its consumers, not only by gadgets or tech stuff but by instilling a deep sense of belief in consumer’s mind as to what your core brand purpose and for what it stands for. This forms the basic premise for any Brand Positioning.
(I had previously written an article on 4 Must do’s for luxury brand marketing, check it out here.)
Case study 1: Mikimoto campaign “Pearl of wisdom”
The brand core purpose is “to adorn the necks of every woman around the world with pearls”. That was the vision of founder, Kokichi Mikimoto.
Mikimoto, the over 100-year-old Japanese jewelry brand, launched their digital campaign, featuring seven self-made women, each offering their “pearls of wisdom” on their accomplishments, achievements and life experiences.
Result: From models and designers to entrepreneurs and activists, each shares their thoughts on what being original means and the women they’re inspired by, striking a chord with the feminist times
Case study 2: Lacoste timeless love
This luxury brand knows how to keep up with the times while maintaining high standards for quality.
Staying current yet defending their classic aesthetic is what led to the creation of “Timeless”.
A film in which a young man chases a woman throughout a train. As the train moves, and the two individuals run from carriage to carriage, their outfits and hair change, as they travel through time, jumping from decade to decade, representing the timelessness of the Lacoste style.
The brand ran the video snippets on Instagram stories.
However, with a large percentage of shoppers now being influenced and even making decisions based on what they see online – social is a hugely important tool for luxury brands looking to deepen consumer engagement.
So what is making luxury brands successful in their digital activation’s?
One common thread in these brands using digital marketing i.e.
Optimized (video) content:
While image and text-based content are effective, video content can be far more so when it comes to generating engagement on social.
Platform (social) specific content for audience engagement:
Limited use of social platforms.
Used extensively Instagram and Youtube and social influencers. Check Chanel using influencer in one of their brand campaigns
Chanel posts consistently on YouTube in particular, using the platform for narrative-led, feature film content. Its first – ‘The One That I Want’ starring Gisele Bundchen has amassed over 18 million views to date.
Alongside celebrity-driven campaigns, the brand also uses video for more behind-the-scenes content, such as its ‘Inside Chanel’ series, which is designed to remind consumers of the brand’s long history and unique vision.
Retain exclusivity
Just because luxury brands are embracing social media doesn’t mean they have to become mass-market.
Chanel is a great example of how to retain a sense of exclusivity, as well as how to capitalize on it to make users feel important and valued.
Conclusion:
When marketing luxury products, photographs & videos are one of the best mediums for evoking the aspirational emotions that we connect with driving a luxury vehicle, wearing designer clothing, or experiencing something exclusive.
Visual social networks like Pinterest, Instagram stories, FB Live represent a huge opportunity for luxury brands to raise brand awareness and advocacy.
I would be writing another article on “why people buy luxury” shortly as a part of my luxury brand initiative.
I would be more than happy to share my learning on Luxury retailing with my connections, friends, business owners who believe in following unconventional norms and want break-through solutions and strategies for their products. You can reach me on riteshmohan@yahoo.com
Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 20 years in the Retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. Has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in the Middle East region. He specializes in Retail management, Product development, and Brand Management, Retail Operations, Sales Management, and Franchising & Business Management. He strongly believes in empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.
‘Trend-jacking’ the word sounds so scary (resembling word hijacking).
Trend-jacking is a terminology used by social media content writers or digital marketers as they try to optimize their post or article with the trending topics, or trending hashtags (#).
Last week, I was in discussion with a leading social media influencer & PR professional and she narrated this secret of hers in getting more likes and followers for her blog and articles.
Deep diving into the topic, raised my curiosity about the topic ‘Trend-jacking’.
In simple words, trend-jacking is simply the act of capitalizing on an existing trend in order to bolster one’s brand in the marketplace.
Do you want to know which are the most memorable ads from Made in India brands, click here?
How is trend-jacking impacting our digital reach?
In times wherein ROI (return of investment) is the buzzword amongst marketers, there is a huge pressure on the digital content people to deliver maximum reach for their message or post in minimum investment. Trend-jacking offers a piggyback ride to content managers and SEO specialists to drive more eyeballs onto the post or article.
Staying more visible is the need for many brands.
Brands are all vying for a pie of mind space in the consumer’s mind in order to increase their brand recall.
These days, people expect more from advertising. With brands so accessible to people through social media, audiences are responding to socially intelligent brands.
A key element to trend-jacking is playing with current trends whether socio-economical, socio-political, sports or any current affairs.
Check out the adverts using this concept.
If you see, most of the most successful brands have been using this concept of trend-jacking for ages. I would like to quote my favorite brand Amul using this concept for ages.
I would give credit to their creative agency (da Cunha & associates) for using this concept in the 1980’s itself and kept the brand alive and relevant to its consumers even today.
Check out the commercials for Amul below:
Another brand using this concept of trend-jacking very effectively is Durex.
Check out their hilarious commercials that get trolled and trended in social media.
Should your brand be using trend-jacking?
If your sole objective is to boost the views by riding the wave of the trend and spamming the feeds of the social audience then my advice is NO.
But if your objective is to customize your brand’s communication to relate to existing trending topics by making your brand’s communication more relevant towards the trend, then YES it does make sense to use it.
Watch Amazon’s Alexa advertisement during Super Bowl- Alexa lost its voice.
To end the article, I would like to reiterate that there is nothing wrong with capturing a trend and reinventing it as your own.
Just make sure doing so adds value to your Brand Promise. The key lies in knowing your brand values and (with a little luck) striking with impeccable timing.
In case any of my readers want to relook at their creative communication strategy, please feel free to write to me at riteshmohan@yahoo.com . I would be more than happy to share my insights with my fraternity members.
About the author:
Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 20 years in the Retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion, and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. Ritesh has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in the Middle East region. He specializes in Retail management, Product development, and Brand Management, Retail Operations, Sales Management and Franchising & Business Management. He strongly believes in empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.
The primary function of advertising is to influence and trigger “call to action” amongst its consumers to buy something.
Advertising is an art of persuasion.
Understanding how persuasion techniques are used in advertising is a science to reckon.
Persuasion techniques can be either rational, irrational or emotional or combination of all three.
I am inspired to write this article post my recent Diwali vacation in India, I observed a strong trend in the market i.e. “Popular Indian sweets were replaced by chocolates.”
During Diwali, I received gifts from my friends and family members and there was one common factor running through most of the gifts i.e. chocolates.
My curiosity increased as these chocolates were both Indian and international.
Chocolates like Ferrero Rocher, wrapped in golden foil resembled popular Indian sweet called Ladoo, were selling like hot cakes.
On the other hand, there was virtually no Indian mithai, amongst the Diwali gifts I received this year.
(Read my article “most memorable ads from India”, click here )
So what caused this change in consumer buying pattern and habits?
Exposure to International advertising/ products and trends:
Chocolates are no longer merely kid stuff, which used to limit their appeal terribly. Brands such as Cadbury and Snickers, Amul have re-positioned chocolates as adult snacking options, which has brought in a fresh hunger for these products.
Almost all International brands like Lindt, Godiva, are now available in Indian cities. The economic and cultural growth also contributed in changing the trends, today middle income group has more money at their disposal than what they used to have 10-15 years back.
Indian youth today loves to experiment with products and are readily embracing western trends. They may look Indian but from their heart, they are very westernized and open in their thoughts.
Fake or spurious ingredients used in excess in traditional sweets
Despite strict food regulations, small-town traders & sweet shops use spurious ingredients in the production of traditional sweets which causes various health complications on consumption.
Tapping of Emotions by advertisers
Mithai or sweets are synonymous with Happiness or special occasions.
Festivals, celebrations, traditional occasions like (childbirth, success in exams etc) are never in short supply in India.
Brands like Cadbury capitalized on this trend and change in consumption patterns and came up with a masterstroke communication strategy called “ Kuch metha ho jaaye”.
Endorsed by film actors and superstars, advertising helped the brand Cadbury to enter every Indian household, every festival, every occasion of happiness.
Tapping your hunger by providing you indulging snack on the go.
Brand Snickers recently emphasized this through its “Who are you when you’re hungry” campaign, based on the insight that hunger is relevant for everyone, regardless of age or mindset.
Communicating Health benefits of chocolates – More than symbol of love and affection
It is proven scientific fact that indulging in chocolate especially dark chocolates has some health benefits.
I am not promoting any chocolate brand nor its consumption but my intention is to drive a fact that how advertising when coupled with consumer’s insights (thanks to consumer research) not only create a demand for a category but also changes its consumer’s behavior and provide them with alternative product to become a part of their festivities and happy occasions.
Successful companies aim to build strong relationships with consumers so they can retain those consumers as long-term customers and maximize revenue opportunities.
I cannot end this article without showing this funny commercial of a chocolate brand which uses humor/ fun as an engagement hook.
It is the power of advertising that makes a western dominated category like chocolate to shed their western layers and become an integral part of Indian festivities and households.
I hope my experience and learning about how advertising influences behaviors would help and guide my fellow marketers who are on their way to carving a niche for their brands.
In case if any of my readers, need my help or inputs to carve out a communication strategy for their brands then I can be reached on riteshmohan@yahoo.com.
It would be my pleasure to help my marketing fraternity in growing the overall industry.
References: Book “storm the norm” by Anisha Motwani; Cadbury’s commercials on youtube, economic times.
About the author:
Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 19 years in the retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. He has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in the Middle East region. He specializes in Retail management, Product development, Brand management, Retail Operations, Sales Management, Business Management & Empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Entrepreneurship is a wonderful journey into “unknown” territory and only support entrepreneurs have is their IDEA.
The first task for any entrepreneur is to develop a Business Plan.
Believe me, the word “Business plan” scares a lot of entrepreneurs in taking a leap into the faith of their idea and most of them tend to drop out from this journey even before trying out.
(Want to know as to how to stay focused in your business by saying NO, then click here)
Recently, I attended a unique event organized in Sharjah called Sharjah entrepreneurship festival (#sharjahef) wherein I was exposed to wonderful concepts of tech startups and met with a couple of budding entrepreneurs.
Post chatting to them, I realized that one of the biggest hurdles for any “wannabe” entrepreneur is lack of financial knowledge or fear of developing a Business Plan.
How to develop a Business Plan?
This article is my attempt to simplify myths of complicated Business Plans by providing my readers and budding entrepreneurs the easiest way to develop their own Business Plan.
Most of the finance wizards or so-called “consultants/advisors” talk about sustainable business plans which according to me only help them since by prolonging the duration of the business plan or making it more complex, they create wealth for themselves and that’s what advisors mean by sustainable.
It is sustainable for them.
The world is full of over-educated nuts, who devote a majority of their lives in making things complicated.
First and foremost thing that any entrepreneur should keep in his mind is SIMPLICITY.
Simplicity in Idea
Simplicity in Business concept
Remember More Clear you are in your thoughts or ideation, the SIMPLER would be your business model.
Clearer thoughts require a deep understanding of your business model or Business idea.
Once you can tell another person what your business is and why it’s special, without their eyes glazing over, you are on the road to success.
Ask these questions & develop your own business plan
Who needs this (product/service)?
How do they meet that need now?
Why would they buy this instead?
How many people could buy it?
How would I reach them?
How many of them would buy it?
How much would they pay for it?
How often will they buy?
How much will it cost to make or fetch each one?
How many people would I need to do that?
These questions are nothing but Business Plan simplified.
The answers to these questions would lead you to Business plan development.
Don’t worry it is not as scary as it sounds.
The answers would tell what has to happen for your idea to become successful.
It is a process driven roadmap simplified for upcoming entrepreneurs.
I would like to end my article by a wonderful quote from George Elliot (Novelist) which says
“The strongest Principle of Growth lies in Human choice”
If any of my readers want any help or assistance in their entrepreneurial venture, then feel free to email me on riteshmohan@yahoo.com. I would be more than glad to help budding entrepreneurs as I strongly believe that the future of the economy would be driven by entrepreneurs and tech startups.
Watch this video which demystifies the myths associated with entrepreneurship.
For my Bollywood fans, I would like them to view one of favorite dialogue which gives the real sense of “Business”. Watch it and enjoy.
Reference book: David Gilbertson’s The Wine Bar Theory.
About the author:
Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 20 years in the Retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. He has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in the Middle East region. He specializes in Retail management, Product development and Brand management, Retail Operations, Sales Management and Franchising & Business Management. He strongly believes in empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Visual Merchandising as we all know it as “silent salesman” in retail. My article is in continuation to my earlier blog on the Visual merchandising which got an overwhelming response from my followers and connections.
Importance of Visual merchandising cannot be ignored especially in turbulent times wherein the stores need customer footfalls in order to get sales and justify sales per sqm criteria.
In this article, I shall highlight the importance of storytelling concept using visual merchandising.
The foremost thing to remember is that people may not remember your advertising messages but they shall remember visuals if presented in a well-structured manner. That is the premise of Visual merchandising storytelling concept.
Narrate your story (concept) through color coding or blocks:
Contrasting colors help customers to take notice by drawing their eye to the display.
It’s not only bold colors that attract attention – a simple black and white display could generate customers’ interest.
Create Hot spots within the store
As per research study, hot spots can increase sales by 229%, retailers should pay attention to where the customer’s eye will be drawn to in their store.
Successful visual merchandising should lead your customer to the items you want them to take notice of. Make your products the central part of your Visual story.
creating focal points or hot spots in the store.
Integrate your sensory powers
We all know that almighty has given us the power to see, taste and smell and hear. Try to integrate these sensory powers in your visual story to create a long-lasting impact on customers.
Smell is the first of our senses to develop in the evolutionary chain. 75% of our emotions are generated by what we smell.
Researches have shown a 40% improvement in our mood when we’re exposed to a pleasant fragrance. A lot of perfumeries worldwide opt for sampling their fragrances using incense burners in order to entice consumers into their stores and setting a mood for them to shop.
Music is another way to increase the power of your visual merchandising. Music helps to solidify the visuals of your brand and create the right atmosphere in your store.
Use your creativity in an art form
Visual merchandising using art as an art form to highlight the key products. This is most commonly seen in fashion boutiques and hi-end shops.
Visual merchandising is indeed an art form.
Grouping of products
Grouping products help the story-telling aspect of retail visual merchandising. Place products that complement each other to encourage cross-selling. For instance, a bag can be grouped with shoes, trousers and a top to show the customer what a complete outfit will look like.
Recently malls in the Middle East are following this trend wherein they accentuate the seasonal theme into story telling format highlighting the products of their participating tenants thus providing tenants much needed support to push up the sales.
These are some of the few Visual tricks to attract and engage the customers to your store.
To end my article I would like to summarize the whole role of merchandising in retail including Visual merchandising with a video.
Hope it would help you to narrate your retail story visually.
If any of my readers need any assistance from me in terms of sales conversion and giving their retail business a boost, I can be reached on riteshmohan@yahoo.com for one to one catch up. I shall be more than happy to help my retail fraternity with my retail wisdom of over 2 decades.
About the author:
Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 20 years in the retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. He has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in the Middle East region. He specializes in Retail management, Product development, Brand management, Retail Operations, Sales Management, and Business Management & believes in empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.
“Made in India” a unique concept given by NDA led the government to promote the manufacturing sector in India and goods from India. But, is it a thought only limited to the manufacturing sector?
My article is my take on how some brands and their memorable advertising & marketing communication resonated “Made in India” in early 80’s and made these brands evergreen and cult from a brand positioning point of view.
These Made in India brands captured the essence of real India back in the early 80’s and mastered the art of brand promise coupled with relevance.
Read my article on brands using social media effectively: click here
Brand Promise with Purpose:
Brand – Amul
The evergreen Amul girl character used so efficiently in advertising that it still remains
Fresh and relevant fulfilling the brand promise. A classic example of making a brand stay relevant and long-lived in consumer’s minds.
Brand Promise of the brand is Honesty, credibility built by offering the best products to its consumers.
A Brand that is owned by the milk producers of Gujarat is an example as to how an entrepreneurial spirit of farmers grows to become the world’s largest cooperative federation serving millions of consumers across the world.
Amul girl and it’s punchier & humor & catchy advertisements based on current affairs makes the brand stay relevant even in present times.
Hats off to wonderful creative team Amul creative campaigns.
Build Brand Promise with Humour:
Brand – Fevicol
Another classic example of how to keep brand alive for over 35 years, a brand owned by Pidilite Industries has created an empire with its brand “Fevicol”. Kudos to its advertising agency O&M India. I am a great admirer of Mr. Piyush Pandey and his work.
Brand Promise delivered i.e. a bond built to last forever.
Who can forget this commercial from Fevicol which is now a masterpiece in Indian advertising?
Conclusion:
The first principle of the Brand building is “Stay true to your DNA” i.e. promise you want your brand to make to its users.
Add to it a Purpose that you would like to develop in your customers.
Remember people don’t buy products or brands, they buy Stories…
In case any of my readers or connections want any guidance pertaining to brand management, Product lifecycle, communication strategies or digital initiatives. I would be more than happy to share my wisdom and knowledge with my retail fraternity members.
Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 20 years in the Retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. He has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in the Middle East region. He specializes in Retail management, Product development and Brand management, Retail Operations, Sales Management, and Franchising & Business Management. He strongly believes in empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
